Conference on ‘Frontiers of IT’ begins at CIIT

Islamabad

The much awaited three-day 13th international conference on ‘Frontiers of Information Technology’ (FIT-2015), organised by COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), began here on Monday.

The importance of Information Technology has been growing at a tremendous pace in the last couple of decades and this annual conference provides participants a forum where cutting-edge research in the area of Information Technology from around the globe is shared as well as a remarkable networking opportunity.

This year’s Conference theme is ‘ICT for Education.’ Prof. Dr. Tayyeb Akram, the Conference General Chair welcomed the national and international delegates participating in the international moot, which will continue till tomorrow (Wednesday). Dr. Akram thanked the participating delegates for their enthusiasm and for attending the event.

The conference co-chair, Dr. Usama Ejaz Bajwa, briefed the delegates on technical aspects of the conference. He highlighted that the acceptance ratio of technical papers in FIT was comparable to that of other renowned international conferences.

Dr. Sajal K. Das, from Missouri University of Science and Technology, USA, in his keynote address, ‘Beyond Cyber -- Physical Era: What’s Next,’ highlighted some of the emerging research challenges, and opportunities, in the cyber-physical-social convergence, and presented novel solutions to tackle them.

During the three days of the conference, a series of ‘invited talks’ have been organised as part of technical sessions, which would be delivered by world-renowned scholars and researchers. A ‘PhD symposia’ has been envisioned to provide a forum to some PhD students to present their ongoing research. These symposia will be conducted by elite academicians from the arena of Information Technology.

‘Tutorial sessions’ will also be a part of FIT-2015, in which various topics of interest to the IT community will be organized and delivered. The hallmark of the conference is the ‘Best IT Innovation Award’ with prize money of Rs. One Million, which would be awarded to the best innovative idea, presented during the moot.

On last day of the conference, a panel discussion on ‘Smart University: Myths and realities,’ will be focusing on the scope of IT smart universities. On the sidelines of the conference, an exhibition of undergraduate projects has also been arranged, which will provide an opportunity to young undergraduate students to showcase their projects for evaluation by a panel of experts.